CENTREVILLE, Alabama - A Bibb County judge this morning denied a motion for a new trial by attorneys for Jody Byrd, who was sentenced in December to 99 years in prison for his murder conviction in the 1999 shooting death of his wife, Desta Byrd.

This morning Circuit Court Judge Jack Meigs issued an order denying Byrd's attorneys request for a new trial.

Jody Byrd's attorneys say Byrd will continue the appeal. "It (Meigs' order) is simply the first expected step in the process of securing Jody's freedom," Joe Basgier, one of Jody Byrd's attorneys, said today.

Blount County District Attorney Pamela L. Casey, who was appointed special prosecutor in the case, said that the judge clearly found no validity to allegations made by Jody Byrd's attorneys in seeking a new trial. "And I'm confident that the case will be upheld on appeal," she said.

Basgier and Byrd's two other attorneys, Brett Bloomston and J.D. Lloyd, had argued in their motion that prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence to show that Jody Byrd shot Desta Byrd and that the case was built solely on circumstantial evidence. They also stated that a reasonable jury would not have found him guilty because prosecutors produced no evidence of motive or evidence of a disagreement or struggle with his wife or that Byrd had fired the weapon. The attorneys contend that the evidence pointed towards Desta Byrd committing suicide.

Casey said that the jury had quickly returned a verdict and had little doubt about Jody Byrd's guilt. "I'm saddened Jody Byrd and his attorneys continue to degrade Desta Byrd's memory and legacy with a suicide defense," she said.

Also, Byrd's attorneys argued that Meigs should have granted a mistrial during the October trial because a jury had improper contact with law enforcement personnel that helped investigate the case and a member of Desta Byrd's family. They also stated that same juror had failed to reveal his criminal history during the jury selection and familiarity with law enforcement and court officials.

Casey called the allegations of misconduct "unfounded."

In his order today denying the trial, Meigs only addressed the allegations regarding the misconduct.

The judge stated that during the trial, on Oct. 31, he conducted an interview in his office with the juror in the presence of prosecutors and attorneys for Byrd. The judge wrote that during the interview he learned the improper contact involved a juror who was outside the courthouse waiting for a ride after court had adjourned for the day. The juror asked an unknown individual for a light for his cigarette.

"That individual, who it was determined was a member of the victim's family but who had not been in the courtroom, replied that he did not have a lighter," the judge wrote in his order. "Bibb County Sheriff's deputy, Jody Wade, happened by and was asked if he had a lighter. He gave the juror a lighter. That was the extent of the encounter," the judge wrote.

The judge stated in his order that one of the defense attorneys said at the time of the juror interview that they were satisfied and did not request him to take any other action, such as having the juror replaced with an alternate.

"Everything the Defendant raises in his motion for new trial regarding juror misconduct was known to the Defendant at that point," the judge states.